Self-indexing ledger.



PATENTED JULY 25, 1905.

H H. HERRIGK. SELF INDEXING LEDGBR. APPLICATION FILED JULY 18, 1904.

5 .75. aferracif/ W HARRY HUGH HERRICK, OF OWVATONNA, MINNESOTA.

SELF-INDEXING LEDGER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

'ratenteci luly 25, 1905.

Application filed July 18, 1904. Serial No. 216,989.

To all whom it natty concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY HUGH HERRIOK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Owatonna, in the county of Steele, State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Self-IndexingLedgers, of which the following is a description, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings and to the letters and figures of referencemarked thereon.

My invention relates to indexing devices for ledgers or other account-books, and has for its purpose to provide a construction of leaves for such books by which each leaf is self-indexing--that is to say, carries an index of all accounts thereonand the indexes of successive leaves are so arranged that a plurality of them are visible at once.

With this object in view the invention consists in the construction of leaf and the combination of leaves all as hereinafter described and shown.

Briefly describing the several views shown on the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a ledger em bodying' my invention, showing the book open. Fig. 2 is a plan view of one leaf of the ledger; and Figs. 3 and 4: are similar views of the upper portion of two other leaves.

Referring 'to the drawings in detail, A A A represent successively-arranged leaves of the ledger or other account-book, each provided at its upper edge or top with a projection B, the projection B of leaf A being at the rear, the projection B of leaf A over the middle of the leaf, and the projection B of leaf A being at the front, the projection of the three leaves thus being all visible at once. The leaves here shown are ruled for four ledger-accounts, the accounts being numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4, and the projections B are ruled to provide four spaces for names, the spaces being numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4, corresponding with the number of accounts on the page. The leaves may be ruled for any desired number of accounts, the number of accounts being immaterial so far as my invention is concerned, provided only that the number of spaces on the projections B are equal in number to the account-spacesand are correspondingly numbered.

For very large books, such as bank-ledgers, where the leaves are so wide that a fractional part of the width less than a third will be suflicient to receive the names, the projections B will be made a fourth, a fifth, or a sixth of the width of the leaf, and the leaves will be arranged in groups of four, five, or six instead of in groups of three, as in the construction shown, so that the index projections of four, five, or six pages may be seen at a glance. whatever the number of leaves in a group may be the projections B of successive leaves' will extend upward from successive points from edge to edge of the leaf.

The leaves will of course be ruled on both sides, and the projections B will also be ruled on both sides, so that accounts on both lefthand and right-hand pages may be indexed.

In the book shown the leaves are provided with tabs 0 on their outer edges for convenience in turning, and the book is provided with alphabetical divisional leaves D, each bearing a'tab E, on which a letter is printed. These leaves D extend nearly or quite to the top of the index projections B, andthus protect these projections from injury. As shown, the invention is applied to a loose-leaf ledger, F being the cover and G being a series of prongs of usual construction, extending through perforations H in the leaves. The invention is not, however, limited to looseleaf ledgers, as it may be used with any form of ledger or other account-book.

In making use of the ledger in opening an account with John Smith the book is opened at S by means of the tab on the alphabetical divisional leaves, and the name John Smith is written in space numbered 1 on the projection B of the first leaf, and the items of his account are entered in the account-space numbered 1 on that page. The next S account, Thomas Stover, for instance, is placed in account-space numbered 2 on that page, and the name Thomas Stover is written in space numbered 2 on the projection B. Successive S accounts are entered in the same wayon that page until all of the accountspaces on that page and all of the spaces on the projection B are taken up. Further S accounts will be entered on the next page, and so on with page after page. In order to refer to a particular account, the book will be opened at the proper letter exposing the index projections of the first three leaves under that letter and showing twelve names if all of the spaces of the projections 3 are, filled. If the name sought is found among the names presented to view on the index projection of the first page, it will be necessary only to glance down the page to the account corresponding Of course it will be understood that in number with the number of the space in which the name is found on the index projection. If the name is not found on the index projection of the first page, but is seen on that of one of the other pages, it is necessary only to turn over one or more leaves. In case the name sought does not appear on any of the index projections of the first three pages by turning over three leaves six index projections will be exposed, three on the left and three on the right. By thus turning over three leaves at a time any desired name may be quickly found.

The ruling of the pages may be varied in accordance with the character of the account to be kept. If the book is to be used for recording information regarding employees, 1nembers of an association, or the like, the pages may be ruled plain, with the subdivisions as on the pages shown.

It will be seen that by the use of the index projections as above described the necessity of keeping a special index-page is avoided, and it is necessary to write the name only once. When applied to a loose-leaf ledger or accountbook, it is found particularly advantageous, as the leaves are always indexed and may be transferred to the transfer-book without the necessity for reindexing.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an account-book, a group of leaves, the opposite faces of each leaf being divided into a number of account-spaces, a designating character for each account-space, a projection extending upward from each leaf and having each of its two faces divided into a number of index-spaces equal to the number of account-spaces on the leaf and provided with designating characters corresponding to those of the account-spaces, the sum of the widths of all of the projections of a group being approximately equal to the width of each page of the group, said projections being so arranged that all of those belonging to a group will be visible at the same time when viewed from either side of the group, and side tabs dividing groups or numbers of groups in alphabetical order.

2. In an account-book, leaves each divided into a number of account-spaces, a designating character for each account-space, a projection extending upward from each leaf and divided into index-spaces of a number equal to the number of account-spaces on the leaf and bearing corresponding designating characters, and protecting-leaves extending approximately to the top of the index projections and dividing the entire number of leaves in the book into small groups, each of the protecting-leaves bearing an alphabet or similar tab.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HARRY HUGH HERRIGK.

Witnesses:

H. S. FRAZER, W. E. GALLowAY. 

